Last week, I attended one of Silicon Valley’s top AI conferences. An event packed with some of the most influential voices shaping the future of artificial intelligence. Leaders from NVIDIA, AMD, Deloitte, Plug and Play, and other innovation powerhouses shared what’s coming next in AI and how it will reshape industries, work, and even national priorities.
Here are the key themes and takeaways that stood out to me:
1. The Global Race for AI Is Officially On
Keith Strier, Global AI Strategist at AMD, traced the global timeline of AI priorities:
- 2016: China declared AI as its national focus.
- 2022: ChatGPT’s release brought AI to the mainstream.
- 2025: The U.S. officially makes AI a national priority.
He highlighted that 80% of the world’s countries don’t have AI computing within their borders, leaving the other 20% controlling nearly all the global computing power. That imbalance gives those countries a massive long-term advantage.
Strier broke down the “frontiers of AI competition” into six areas:
- AI models
- Computing
- Energy
- Expertise
- AI agents
- Physical AI
These will be the new pillars of global technological dominance.
2. Agentic AI – the Next Leap
A discussion featuring Azita Martin (NVIDIA), Saeed Amidi (Plug and Play), and Warren Packard (AIFund) explored how far AI has come and how far it still has to go.
- “Physical AI is laughably bad,” said Warren Packard – reminding us that we’re only at the tip of the iceberg in the AI revolution.
- Agentic AI is one of the next benchmarks for comparing AI.
And of course, one of the most quoted lines of the day came from NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, as Azita quoted him:
“AI won’t replace jobs, but someone using AI will.”
3. Regulation and Risk Are Lagging Behind Innovation
In this session on AI policy and alignment, Kathi Vidal (Winston & Strawn) highlighted that while the federal government is slow to regulate AI, states are beginning to take their own steps.
She also pointed out that AI startups are increasingly being targeted by foreign entities posing as investors, seeking to steal IP and innovation which is a real and growing risk.
Her perspective on gender dynamics was thought-provoking:
“Men propel off of competition. Women propel off of collaboration.”
4. Trust and the Human Factor
Deborah Golden, Chief Innovation Officer at Deloitte, emphasized that innovation isn’t just about technology; it’s about trust.
She shared some sobering stats:
- Only 32% of the public trusts AI.
- Only 22% trust the U.S. government.
- Only 15% believe the U.S. is on the right track.
Her advice:
“Trust your blueprint to scale AI. Start with test pilots, find the most efficient, then scale.”
That principle applies well beyond AI, it’s a universal truth for growth and business.
5. AI in the Real World
William Santana Li, CEO of Knightscope, showcased his company’s mission to make the U.S. “the safest country in the world.”
Knightscope’s security robots which can see, hear, sense, and report 24/7 recently partnered with Palantir to redefine security infrastructure.
During a panel on smart cities, leaders from Glydways, Samsara, Faction, Deloitte, and Knightscope discussed how innovation requires constant iteration:
“Failure is a sign of success,” said Deborah Golden, who even sets a target failure rate of 6–8% for her teams.
“There is no perfect and there never will be.”
Final Thoughts
There were many more thought-provoking and impressive panels and speakers from this conference, but these were just a couple that grabbed my attention.
My key takeaways are:
- AI isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the next great infrastructure layer for business, policy, and society.
- AI won’t solve every problem, but it will multiply human potential. Humans are still in the driver’s seat.
- Like any disruptive force, the opportunity belongs to those who adapt early.
